I was a US Civilian Mariner (aka merchant marine) for 16 years or so and a licensed officer for the last 4 years. I recently changed professions due to a welcome addition to my family that I can't bear to leave for months at a time! I'm not here to tell you the Ever Given situation isn't meaningful, I think it is. What I can do is tell you what it's like to live and work in the industry, share my training and experience with large ocean going vessels. Basically I'd like to help dispel nonsense so we can all get to the truth and look good doing it!
I just got off work and I'm starting my weekend, so I'll be back to answer any questions after a good sleep.
Hard to say. What I can tell you is that one reason to have a Panamanian flag is to dodge training requirements (it's complicated and indirect, but rest assured they have a nearly useless crew) and everyone I ever met working in the canal was useless. Those tugs you see on scene already probably barely work, junkers with minimal maintenance. Somewhere else in the world and I bet it would be done by now.
The suez is a special one. That much traffic, that narrow. In lesser 'canals' it happens from time to time... I got to see the immediate aftermath of a ship getting stuck in the mud in northern Europe in a cut. They had it out in a day and told cheerful stories about it for months. For the sake of discussion, let's say this is a genuine accident, well... They'll call me a shill. It could happen. Rare on this scale but not for any good reason other than dumb luck. I've seen some shit that makes me wonder why it doesn't happen more often!
Laughed my ass off! Until I started to think about what it meant. Then I made some popcorn!
Something tells me we want it stuck for a bit.
I'm torn on that one. There's a lot of incompetence on ships with flags of convince and the local "people" in the suez... But this is getting ridiculous.
What is the draft at the bow? When I looked at the ships stats it cites its draft as approximately 15 meters. Does that keel depth run the entire length of the ship?
Did it look to you like that had one of those big bulbs at the prow?
If the keel is 45 feet at the bow that would give us a huge hint at what is dug into the bank. And if its got a bulb then that is gonna be a mutha to float. They will need big floating dredges in there. An excavator on shore wont cut it.
Def got the bulb
It's called a bulbous bow. The idea is that the bulb rides just under the surface of the water and breaks the water tension to give a more fuel efficient cruise.
The keel is basically flat, but the trim is the difference between the for and aft draft. Usually they are very close. You've walked into something complicated... Let's just leave it as on a ship like that in conditions like that the draft at the bow and stern should be within a couple feet.
Especially seeing the different cargo containers clearly spelling out "LOL". I almost sprayed my coffee, went up the nose instead. Ouch!
That was fake